Fall Arts Preview 2016

Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune

Fall is the start of the semester for the arts in Chicago. From theater to the symphony to museums, even TV, this is the busiest time of the year. This is a fall guide put together by Chicago Tribune critics, editors and writers.

UPDATE: Zanies Comedy Club announced Oct. 3 that Richard Lewis has postponed his Chicago-area appearances until 2017. He was scheduled to perform Nov. 16-19 at the Chicago and Rosemont locations. The fall stand-up comedy season begins in a hurry in the Chicago area. Hannibal Buress Each time hometown...

It's odd how we cling to certain TV rituals. The whole idea of "Fall TV," for example. There's an ongoing, revolutionary upgrade in the many ways we watch television, so how is it that consumers are still expected to gorge on two to three dozen premieres at once (from broadcast, cable and streaming)...

Stupid as it sounds, we prejudge movies left and right, by the unreliable barometers of our choice. Good trailer? The Amy Adams alien invasion movie "Arrival" has one, yes. So does "La La Land," the latest from writer-director Damien Chazelle, if you're seduced by images of Ryan Gosling and Emma...

Chicago museums have a tough act to follow this fall, after a blockbuster spring featuring shows on Van Gogh, "Downton Abbey," massive Lego sculptures, Terracotta Warriors, Johnny Carson and contemporary artist Kerry James Marshall. Many of those exhibitions are still on offer and will be for weeks...

Yes, there's the Big Show Everybody Is Talking About. Let's face it, if you don't have your "Hamilton" tickets already, you're probably out of luck, unless you want to sell a kidney in return for a ducat. Fortunately, there are plenty of other great theatrical options to keep you busy without going...

Fall is always the busiest time of year for new recordings, and this year is no exception. Here's a preview of some of the more anticipated new releases: Rock Handsome Family, "Unseen" (Sept. 16): Husband-and-wife duo Brett and Rennie Sparks are back to haunt listeners' dreams with songs of heartbreak,...

Showing me around her character's office on the "Chicago Med" set, S. Epatha Merkerson points to the artwork that fills one wall. This one's a Geoffrey Holder, she says. That one's a Hunt Slonem. All are reproductions from her collection that hangs in her home in New York. "I told them, 'I collect...

The fall architecture season beckons with a cornucopia of new buildings, urban spaces, lectures, exhibitions and events. Here are some you won't want to miss: The Riverwalk rises: Already a popular and critical success, the downtown Chicago Riverwalk is poised to grow in size and appeal. The Riverwalk's...

The downtown Chicago Riverwalk often seems so effortlessly successful that it's easy to forget that people actually labored to design it, including Chicago architect Carol Ross Barney and Boston-area landscape architect Gina Ford. Theirs were among the guiding hands for the latest sections of the...